Pilates is currently a hot topic in the field of personal training, rehabilitation and personal fitness. It has achieved widespread notoriety and press. Stars and athletes extol its virtue. Stories abound about the rehabilitative benefits associated with different Pilates routines and exercise. Pilates equipment and trainers are seemingly everywhere, and it appears there is more demand for Pilates trainers than there are qualified trainers. So, what exactly is all the commotion about, especially if one is not already familiar with Pilates?
A brief search on the Internet reveals various manufacturers of Pilates equipment, certification agencies, books on Pilates, Pilates exercise video programs and many different sites talking about Pilates, and how Pilates instructors can help one in Pilates exercise programs. In fact, there is really somewhat of a bewildering array of material, but little authoritative summary material, except for very concise statements that are too general to be of much use in really answering the question of, what exactly is Pilates?
The following discussion of Pilates is based upon the book The Everything Pilates Book, published by Adams Media Corporation, ISBN: 1-58062-738-2, copyright 2002, the disclosure of which is specifically incorporated herein by reference. The book provides an historical look at Pilates, and the role of key people in its early development. It also discusses the fundamental skills of Pilates and provides a very useful, broad-based discussion of Pilates. In the following discussion, there are quotes from the third chapter of this book entitled “The Fundamentals of Pilates” as well as from the sixth chapter entitled “Pilates Equipment.”
German-born fitness innovator Joseph H. Pilates (1881-1967) developed the Pilates exercise system in the 1920s. His interest in physical fitness stemmed from a determination to strengthen his own body and improve his health after a sickly childhood. With a diverse background of experience, Joseph Pilates devised a unique sequence of movements that worked the mind and muscle in harmony.
Joseph Pilates and his wife opened a studio in New York City in 1926. The studio trained and helped rehabilitate a number of dancers, and became the fitness center for a number of New York City's richest and most influential citizens. The studio remained open, and was run by Joseph Pilates or his wife, until 1971. During that time, the Pilates name was associated with Joseph Pilates and his studio, and he invented a number of different pieces of equipment used in his exercise training programs. After the death of Joseph Pilates and his wife, a dispute arose concerning the name Pilates, and it was eventually decided, in a federal court, that the name Pilates refers to an exercise technique and that it could not serve as a trademark. Now, the name Pilates is associated with a variety of exercise programs, techniques and equipment pioneered by Joseph Pilates, but also with the philosophy he espoused.
There are several variations of Pilates principles today, ranging from those that Joseph Pilates pioneered in the early 1900s to contemporary adaptations that incorporate modern understanding of fitness, anatomy and biomechanics.
Joseph Pilates developed his fitness method with one overriding goal: to give people a way to achieve “true health.” He defined true health as “the attainment and maintenance of a uniformly developed body” with a well-balance “holy trinity” of body, mind, and spirit. Fundamental goals of Pilates are uniform development, deep healthy breathing, flexible and decompressed spine and joints, robust circulation, and the trinity of body/mind/spirit.
Concentration and awareness are like the macro and micro focus functions of a single lens. You need both to be able to concentrate on the specifics and to be aware of the whole. Concentration enables one to make precise controlled movements. To do any Pilates movement or exercise correctly, one must be able to focus one's attention and intense concentration on certain body parts or specific skills. Every movement matters.
Joseph Pilates designated the area of the torso between the lower ribs and hips as the “Powerhouse” or center. He believed that correctly developing this area of the body is crucial to mastering his method of body conditioning, and thereby achieving health. A strong Powerhouse forms the foundation for all Pilates movements; energy emanates from the center and flows outward toward your hands and feet. This principle is referred to as “centering.”
Every Pilates exercise is made up of a series of smooth, fluid movements; you should never see a Pilates student strain or jerk to achieve a correct position or movement. The whole-body approach of Pilates fosters connected, graceful, natural movement.
When you do Pilates, you don't stop and start and you don't move too quickly or too slowly. You maintain a strong, controlled pace that takes you smoothly through the process of on movement and on to the next. And you carefully coordinate all of your movements with your breathing, to give them even more grace, strength, and connected flow.
Oppositional energy is a principle that combines the sills of concentration and visualization to increase the benefits of movement. Using this principle, you visualize that two opposing points in your body are actually stretching apart as you assume a position or movement, and your muscles react to that visualization by exerting energy in opposing directions. You “think” the stretch, then your muscles respond to your thought.
Oppositional energy helps your body refine its physical placement and creates elongation by giving your muscles and joints a mental roadmap. In Pilates, you use oppositional energy to elongate your spine and decompress all joints—an important goal. Oppositional energy elongates muscles, aligns bones, and balances and stabilizes the muscular forces around each joint. It also gives muscles a deeper workout by adding internal resistance to each muscle group's load.
Oppositional energy helps work all muscle groups simultaneously, by engaging both the muscles used for lengthening, and the opposing muscles used to stabilize or resist that pull. For instance, to lengthen and properly position your leg while keeping your pelvis square and stable, you don't want to just push out with your foot. That action might pull your pelvis forward and tilt your body position. Instead, visualize that your hip and heel are actually pulling apart with oppositional energy. This visualization helps you accomplish the stretch without destabilizing the position of your pelvis.
Proper breathing guides everything else you do in your Pilates training. To breathe properly during Pilates exercises, you need to fill your lung completely—expanding them to their greatest capacity—and then empty the lungs of all air.
Pilates is not a bodybuilder's workout, designed to bulk up specific muscles. Pilates is a condition program designed to work the whole body simultaneously and uniformly. Joseph Pilates created his exercises with the intention “that each muscle may cooperatively and loyally aid in the uniform development of all our muscles. Developing minor muscles naturally helps to strengthen major muscles.” As a result, every muscle is developed in every movement.
Pilates works to develop longer, stronger muscles—not just bigger ones. Pilates benefits also extend beyond one's muscles, to develop stronger, more flexible joints, as well. Regular Pilates practice helps one build a strong, flexible, uniformly well-developed body.
The fundamental Pilates workout can be performed on a mat alone, and great results can be achieved through beginner, intermediate and advanced moves. However, Joseph Pilates also invented various equipment pieces, such as the Reformer, that incorporate light spring resistance that works like concentric and eccentric muscle contractions to safely sculpt, tone and stretch the muscles. Smaller Pilates equipment pieces such resistance bands, circles and balls also provide an element of variety and focus to a Pilates regimen.
A complete and satisfying workout can involve exercises on the mat alone or can be combined with various pieces of specially designed Pilates equipment. Each session can offer variety so that no two workouts are alike.
The Universal Reformer is the most widely known piece of Pilates equipment. The Universal Reformers' unique combination of springs, pulleys, straps, and sliding carriage make it an incredibly valuable and useful piece of equipment. Its adjustability enables the Reformer to address a wide range of physical capabilities, disabilities, and fitness goals with refined, sophisticated solutions. Joseph Pilates created nearly 100 exercises on the Reformer—more exercises than he designed for any other piece of Pilates equipment. The Reformer consists of a wooden or metal rectangular frame, approximately seven feet long and two feet wide, resting about 16 inches above the floor on four legs. Interior metal tracks run the length of the frame, providing guidance for a wheeled and padded carriage that attaches to the frame with springs at one end and a handle-and-strap pulley system at the other.
The carriage has a headrest, shoulder blocks, and handgrips. One end of the Reformer frame is equipped with a foot bar and strap, and a series of gears that allow users to adjust the distance between the shoulder blocks and foot bar to accommodate different movements and different body types.
Several accessories are available for the Reformer, including additional straps, support blocks, strap extensions, and so on.
On the Reformer, the student lies, sits, kneels, and stands in many different positions as he or she stretches and extends the body—enabling access to a wide range of movements and, therefore, developing all of the body's muscles simultaneously. Sometimes the student's hands are on the foot bar, sometimes they hold flexible straps or balance on top of the shoulder blocks; or the student's feet can assume any of these positions. In all positions, the spine arches, twists, and flexes as the carriage on which the student's body is positioned moves back and forth.
The Reformer (like most Pilates equipment) differs from traditional fitness equipment in very fundamental ways. Rather than using an isolated set of muscles to move an external forces, such as a barbell or stack of weights, you use your Powerhouse to lift and pull your body's weight along with the Reformer's spring-loaded carriage. This action automatically centers you, developing balance, coordination, and body/space awareness as it strengthens and stretches your entire body, not just any one isolated set of muscles.
As with all of his equipment, Joseph Pilates continually experimented and advanced his theories and designs for the Reformer. As a result, he built many versions of the Reformer during his lifetime. Since his death, the Reformer has become the most adapted piece of equipment in the Pilates studio.
Many changes to the original Reformer design have benefited neither the client nor the method; often, the meddlers had little understanding of Pilates' original vision. Differences in dimensions, for instance, alter certain exercises dramatically enough to make them less valuable, sometimes impossible, and, in the worst cases, even dangerous. Further complication matters, some instructors and Pilates facilities teach only the Reformer exercises offering instruction in no other part of the Pilates method.
While the Reformer is an excellent piece of equipment to use in Pilates programs, it can be quite expensive and not especially portable. This limits its use primarily to use in studios, as opposed to homes. Also, it prevents the Reformer from being a practical piece of equipment useful in personal Pilates training, even by Pilates professionals, in personal training sessions outside of studios.
There are other pieces of Pilates equipment that do not suffer from the drawback of cost or lack of portability. An example is the Magic Circle. However, in view of the desirability of variety, and a wide range of exercises that can fit within a Pilates training program, there is a very real and continuing widespread need for improved Pilates equipment. Such equipment, to be most useful, should be inexpensive, portable, capable of a wide range of exercises, especially exercises that work on the Powerhouse, and, most importantly, be adapted to fit within a Pilates program.
However, there is also a continuing need for equipment useful in rehabilitation and exercise that goes beyond Pilates equipment or equipment useful in Pilates exercises.
For example, many athletes find it desirable to work with personal trainers who focus on programs that are specifically designed to enhance skills useful in a chose sport. Also, there is always a need for improved devices useful for training professional athletes, or for elite athletes in competitive programs, such as college sports in the United States, or athletes training for specific goals, such as competing in the Olympics. For such professional and elite athletes, even a slight increase in performance can give them a much needed boost in a field of very competitive athletics.
The present invention is directed to a new system of exercise equipment that is extremely useful for rehabilitation or for other training. While it can be used for Pilates-type movements, it can also be used for specified sports training in that an athlete is able to do resistance training while performing movements that closely mimic the actual movements used during the actual performance of that athlete's specific sport. For example, it can be used for exercises specifically geared toward swimming.
In addition, the present invention can perform complimentary exercises that, until now, could not or have not been performed on any other equipment or system. Also, in contrast to traditional exercise machines, the present invention allows muscles to be worked from a flexed position through a full range of motion with resistance increasing through the muscular extension (range of motion) allowing each extremity to be worked individually yet in a manner that is designed to achieve proper muscle symmetry, strength, flexion, and balance throughout the entire body by working the independent extremities simultaneously (e.g., leg extension/hamstring curl movement).
Moreover, the present invention is portable and can be folded up to save space when being stored.
Accordingly, as will be apparent from the description below, the present invention is directed to a truly revolutionary system with many benefits that could not previously be obtained.